Zöblitzer serpentine
The Zöblitzer serpentine ( petrographic : Zöblitzer serpentinite ) is a rock used for several centuries for architectural applications, artistic work, handicraft objects and technical purposes, which was used in Europe. One of its distinctive properties is its good workability on the lathe . Serpentinite is a metamorphic rock that consists largely of the so-called serpentine minerals .
Naming and occurrence
The historical development of the name of Zöblitzer Serpentine, a common trade name for this rock, can be traced on the basis of some old sources. In past centuries it was called marble because of its drawing . According to today's geoscientific criteria, this is a serpentinite rock, i.e. a metamorphite.
Historically verifiable terms are:
- Marble zeblicius ( Agricola 1546),
- Marble zeblicius ( Cardanus 1556),
- ophitino maculoso Zebliciano ( Fabricius 1569)
- Zeblicius Ophites Germanorum (Boötius de Boot 1606).
The Zöblitz serpentine deposit has a relatively limited area in terms of area and extends under the Zöblitz and in its surroundings. The main deposit is located east of Zöblitz and extends to the northern houses of the village of Sprung . A single large quarry has emerged from numerous small extraction sites over the past centuries. Other smaller, abandoned mining sites are now overgrown and difficult to find in the landscape.
Attempts have also been made to exploit certain parts of the deposit by means of underground mining . The term “Stollnbruch”, which was used at times, originates from this time. The deposit is surrounded by muscovite gneiss and in this way finds its horizontal boundary. The first official geological survey in the region around Zöblitz took place in the second half of the 19th century and was completed by Joseph Nikolaus Hazard in 1883. At the beginning of the 21st century, the end of the serpentinite mining at Zöblitz due to depletion of the deposit is foreseeable.
One of the largest collections of Zöblitzer serpentine is in the collections of the Museum of Mineralogy and Geology Dresden . During the period of activity of the former inspector of the Mineralogical Cabinet , Johann Heinrich Gössel (1780–1846), 168 items from 1832–1846 were listed in the inventory catalog he maintained. Due to the war-related losses, 69 of these are still available today.
Origin, properties, mineralogy
- Main article: → Serpentinite
The Zöblitzer serpentine is a garnet serpentinite in the petrographic sense. It arose as a result of very complex metamorphic and tectonic processes that had their starting point in the depths of the earth's mantle . Today it is assumed that the parent rock formed in the lower zones of the earth's crust at the time of the Precambrian . Movements in which the parent rocks rose to the surface of the earth caused considerable tectonic forces. These deformations resulted in retrograde metamorphic mineral transformations.
The rock that is accessible and therefore degradable on the earth's surface forms a garnet-bearing metamorphite, the paragenesis of which (mineralogically defined mode of formation) took place in the triangle between chlorite - garnet - serpentine minerals . When the Flöha syncline was formed , the previously low-lying parent rocks were uplifted.
The most important visual property of the Zöblitzer serpentine is its visual appearance. The changing colors and structures have established its versatile applications and its importance in art history. The main color tones are black with a slight green cast and dark green varieties. Dark red, brownish red and medium green shades are rarer. Light green, gray-green, gray-violet and whitish-green pieces also appear very occasionally. Some of these very rare varieties can only be processed to a limited extent due to the degree of decomposition of their mineral components. Pieces with yellow tints, as can be seen on numerous historical objects, are no longer found today.
Typical for the general appearance are the inclusions of garnet crystals ( pyrope ), which in most cases have already undergone a natural decomposition process ( Kelyphitization ) and are no longer red in color. The more they have suffered this decomposition, the easier it is to turn a respective raw piece. Garnets with a low degree of decomposition have such a high mineral hardness ( Mohs 7 - 7.5), which makes them extremely cumbersome when working with serpentine (Mohs 3 - 4). In the quarry, handpieces can occasionally be found that show red garnet crystals in crevices.
The light silky sheen of some parts and ribbons comes mainly from the mineral chrysotile, which is embedded in the serpentine serpentine from wafer-thin to thicker veins and mostly fills former crevices in the main rock. There are also clinochrysotile , orthochrysotile , parachrysotile , antigorite or lizardite . Magnetite and chromite are the main dark components. In addition, the mineral chlorite and various mineral variations of iron oxides occur. The latter contribute in different ways to red and red-brown coloration.
Early history of mining
The Zöblitzer serpentine has a history of use spanning over five centuries. The origins of its beginning are lost in the dark of history. The existence of a few vessels is already documented from its early epoch, the quality of which suggests high skill. In the Danish Royal Collections there is a lidded beaker made of Zöblitzer serpentine, the silver frame of which made it possible to date it to the end of the 15th century.
The first known literary mention comes from Georgius Agricola , who referred him to it in his work “De natura fossilium”. From the records of a document that is no longer available in the original, it emerges that serpentine processing in Zöblitz is said to have existed as early as the 15th century. This document names a mountain master Christoph Illigen as the founder of serpentine turning and dates the year of his death to 1482. However, other details make this dating appear doubtful. Nevertheless, serpentine processing will begin in the 15th century, as Zöblitz had been granted the privileges of a free mining town since 1488, although there was no ore mining here and the town was the seat of the mining authority of the Lauterstein lordship . The associated tax privileges were granted to promote mining. For this reason, it is reasonable to assume that this privileged status relates to the mining of serpentinite rock.
An important factor accompanying the start of serpentine processing is the fact that Zöblitz is located on the old Antiqua semita Boemorum trade route , which led south via Prague to Italy. In this way, knowledgeable merchants or scholars always came to distant regions and spread knowledge in the process. In the legends of the Ore Mountains, there are several references to whales or Venetians, who looked for stones and ores in the forests and streams, seemingly uncontrollable and strange to the locals . Those experts from Italy may have carried the processing techniques for similar rocks known in their home country to Saxony and initiated their application.
Competing serpentinites in Saxony
To a lesser extent, but definitely worth mentioning, are the serpentinites from Kuhschnappel and from the Pechgrund near Hohenstein-Ernstthal . There were other small mining sites in central Saxony. These stones were also processed into elaborate turning work in Zöblitz and other Saxon places. Among other things, it is a bronzite serpentinite , which has a different optical appearance but can be processed just as easily. The mining near Hohenstein-Ernstthal was still operated in the GDR era but was later discontinued. These rocks occur on the edge of the Saxon Granulite Mountains .
processing
The most important early uses of Zöblitzer serpentine are everyday household appliances . Typically, these include drinking vessels, screw-top bottles, cans, plates, candlesticks, mortars, graters and pestles. Some of these objects were given a metal frame as early as the 15th century if they performed a useful function or improved their handling. This protected the vessels from damage and made it possible to fit lids and handles where required.
The typical processing method is turning , i.e. dry processing with a rotating movement. In the early workshops, the wood turner had to operate the rotating shaft with a hand-held bow, the string of which was looped around the axis. This type of wood turning lathe or lathe is called a Fitschel or Fitzelbank . This is where the word "Fitscheln" comes from for short, rapid rubbing and sawing movements. Later the drive changed and was placed between a pedal and a rocker (springy wooden or metal part).
The shape of the rocking lathe remained the same for several centuries. A rope went from the pedal over the shaft up to the springy seesaw. The latter stretched the rope and pulled it up when the worker released the foot pressure on the pedal. This resulted in counter-rotating movements in successive sequences. The material on the clamped workpiece was removed with different moving irons that could only be used in one direction of rotation. When moving back, the turner had to quickly remove the tool from the workpiece, otherwise fragments could be torn out of the stone. Rework and shapes that could not be created by turning were worked out with a file, rasp and various planes. In the 19th century, the rocking lathe, which had been used for centuries, slowly lost its importance because steam power and electrical current enabled continuous rotary movements.
Processors must pay particular attention to the selection of the raw material. Natural fractures and chrysotile deposits are detrimental to processing and often lead to breakage. Likewise, the rarely occurring red pyrope crystals (very hard compared to the surrounding rock) and strongly decomposed areas of the serpentinite are unsuitable because of their low strength and impair a good work result.
Use and design
The typical products that arose from the artisanal production described were stone vessels for daily and festive needs.
In 1546 Georg Agricola reported on drinking utensils made from Zöblitzer serpentine. In the "Meißnische Bergk Chronica" of 1590, Petrus Albinus names simple household items made from this stone, such as salt kegs, spoons, drinking vessels, bowls, warming stones, etc.
In the supraregional trade mainly only serpentine goods without fittings were sold. At the customer's location, gold and silversmiths or pewter casters took on the edging. In the case of courtly equipment, there were occasionally additional work with gemstones. For the Saxon court of Augustus the Strong worked goldsmiths as Elias Geyer and Urban Snow White, in the 17th century, the precious metal mounts for containers of Zöblitzer serpentine. In other European countries it was their artisans. Works of this kind are known from the Dutch cities of Maastricht, Leeuwarden and The Hague. There are testimonies from Liège, Vienna, Constance, Copenhagen, England and Russia.
The natural stone commissioner, sculptor and master builder Giovanni Maria Nosseni (1544–1620), who played a decisive role in Saxony in the 16th century , also had an electoral privilege for the Zöblitz serpentine, which enabled him to procure good and large raw pieces at any time. Nosseni made intensive use of this opportunity. After his death, the elector secured the provision of work stone pieces directly through a corresponding privilege and in 1624 appointed a serpentine stone overseer who later held the title of electoral inspector. This right of purchase was valid until 1836 and it underlines the contemporary importance of Zöblitzer serpentine. In particular, the private sale of the rare yellow and red varieties was prohibited because the Saxon court needed them for its own exclusive needs.
After a few years of crisis, a major order from Gaetano Chiaveri in 1740 for the construction of the Catholic Court Church in Dresden brought a great boost to the serpentine woodworking trade of Zöblitz. During the Seven Years' War production came to a standstill again around 1763. The praiseworthy attempt by Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich von Trebra to revive the business by founding a factory and a permanent trading office in Leipzig failed after a short time in 1774 with considerable capital losses.
In the course of the 19th century, serpentine goods production recovered, supported by the abolition of the state monopoly access for large blanks, because many electrical engineering elements were required in a short time and overseas trade developed well. In the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, Zöblitzer serpentine goods became most widespread. Products of all kinds reached many European countries and overseas. Extensive product catalogs were used to advertise the now world-famous stone from the Saxon Ore Mountains. The offers included warming stones, drinking vessels, clock cases, paperweights, desk sets, table bowls of various designs, lamp bases, playing cubes and ashtrays. The catalogs also show style chimneys, pillars for sculptures and other objects, door panels, baptismal fonts, gravestones and urns as well as altar parts. Insulators, switch panel elements and radiator cladding were manufactured for technical purposes.
As a building or decorative stone, we only encounter the Zöblitzer serpentine occasionally. Wall and floor coverings are relatively rare. Applications can be found more frequently for architectural parts, for example on the portal (around 1520) of the grave chapel of Duke George of Saxony in Meissen Cathedral . This application is the earliest documented evidence of Zöblitzer serpentine in architecture.
In the Catholic Court Church of Dresden not only balusters of various choir screens are made of this stone, but there are also gold-framed surfaces in the Joseph and Mary altars, each to the side of the high altar. In the town church of Zöblitz there is a baptismal font and columns as well as the serpentine balustrade of the pulpit altar. A work signed by Elias Weißbach depicts the baptismal font in the town church St. Nikolai in Herzberg (district Osterode am Harz) from 1624. In German cemeteries or in funerary chapels one encounters parts of older tombs (Munich) made of Zöblitzer serpentine. In the urban architecture of Dresden, Gottfried Semper re-appeared with the building of the New Court Theater (completed in 1878). The balusters of all flights of stairs and gallery boundaries were executed by the Sächsische Serpentin-Aktiengesellschaft. The same company carried out door frames on the main floor when the picture gallery was built in Kassel (1871–1877). Eight benches were created for the loggia in the same building. The destruction in World War II destroyed this equipment. As a final example, the entrance portal (completed in 1916) to the large reading room in the German library in Leipzig should be mentioned.
Another use, which makes up the bulk of the modern mining volume, is the production of grit for terrazzo and the construction of paths or tracks. Most of the mined rock shows considerable cracks, making it unsuitable for quarrying.
More recent company history
In the period around 1900 and up to the Second World War, the Otto Lippmann companies, the Uhlig brothers and the Saxon Serpentine Stone Society (SSG) were decisive in processing Zöblitzer serpentine. The last-named company made special contributions to the history of art because it engaged leading exponents of the German arts and crafts movement for designs. The best-known representative of this art movement with regard to Zöblitzer serpentine goods is Albin Müller . The pieces designed by him and manufactured by the SSG received the highest awards at the Third German Applied Arts Exhibition in Dresden in 1906, which was important for the reform movements . Also worth mentioning is the architect Ernst Krieg from Dortmund, who designed bowls and vases for the SSG, and Friedrich Adler . We find Adler's designs both at SSG and in the Otto Lippmann company's catalogs .
In the period after the Second World War, the VEB Zöblitzer Natursteine was founded from the remaining functional production facilities . This later became part of the VE Kombinat Elbenaturstein , which was based in Dresden. In the era of the GDR, the Zöblitzer serpentine was only processed to a small extent by hand. The focus was on the mass production of simple turned and knickknacks from limestone and marble of various origins. This range of products was known as “cultural goods”, which typically comprised ashtrays, simple candlesticks, cans and bowls. The serpentinite occurrence was almost exclusively reserved for the extraction of gravel and grit material as well as terrazzo raw materials.
What is remarkable at this point is the fact that until well into the GDR era, foreign materials of exotic origin ( e.g. Algerian onyx marbles ) were processed into small items that were procured in the pre-war period. After 1989 the privatization took place with changing external owners. Today the business is again in the hands of a Zöblitzer family, who are committed to the preservation of the high art of serpentine turning.
literature
- C. Gäbert, A. Steuer, K. Weiss: The usable rock deposits in Germany. Weathering and conservation of rocks. Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 1915.
- Eva Maria Hoyer: Saxon serpentine: a stone and its use. Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1996, ISBN 3-361-00424-1 .
- Jan-Michael Lange: The petrographic collection of the Museum of Mineralogy and Geology Dresden. In: Lange / Kühne (Ed.): The Museum of Mineralogy and Geology: From the electoral art chamber to the state research museum. Dresden 2006, ISBN 3-910006-34-5 .
- Jan-Michael Lange, Martin Kaden, Ferdinand Heinz: Zöblitzer serpentinite as urn material - an introduction to the petrography of an extraordinary rock. Sax-Verlag, 2011. online
- Gerhard Mathe: The serpentinite deposits at Zöblitz and their use. On the history of a 500-year line of business in the Ore Mountains In: Sächsische Heimatblätter, issue 5/1971, pp. 224–228.
- Reinhold Reinisch, H. Graser: Explanations of the geological map of Saxony on a scale of 1: 25000, No. 129 sheet Zöblitz 2nd edition, GA Kaufmann's Buchhandlung Dresden, Leipzig 1929.
- Axel Renno: Possibilities for the creation of rounded structures in garnet serpentinite by Zöblitz. (Manual information for customers of Zöblitzer serpentine processing)
- Julius Schmidt: History of the serpentine industry at Zöblitz in the Saxon Ore Mountains. Dresden 1868. ( digitized version )
- Christian Friedrich Schultzen: News from the bey Zöblitz and other types of serpentine stones in Saxony. Dresden / Leipzig 1771. ( digitized version )
- Otfried Wagenbreth, Walter Steiner: Geological forays: Landscape and geological history between Cape Arkona and Fichtelberg. German publisher for basic industry, Leipzig 1990, ISBN 3-342-00227-1 .
- Paul Wagner (Hrsg.): Hiking book for the upper Erzgebirge ( Saxon hiking books vol. 6). Dresden 1935.
- About Olbernhau and Seiffen (= values of our homeland . Volume 43). 1st edition. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1985.
Web links
- Serpentine stone on the website of the Association for the Promotion of Culture and the Serpentine Stone Tradition eV